A group of around 10 Tibetan nomads held a vigil outside the hotel in Chengdu, capital of Sichuan Province, where an official meeting on January 28. They were calling for protection to pasture areas and opposing illegal land acquisition.

The Tibetans, wearing Tibetan traditional dress, were detained and taken away by armed police about ten minutes after they sat outside the hotel where a session of the Regional People’s Congress was being held. Their current whereabouts is unknown.

The nomads carried banners that read “Defend pasture lands of herdsmen. Firmly oppose illegal land acquisition”, “Homes are being occupied. We have no home to go.” According to exile Tibetan sources in contact with Tibetans in the area, the nomads said that they were “risking their lives to protect their grasslands and livestock”. The nomads feel that they and their animals had been displaced from their land due to government policies of confiscating pastureland and slaughter of livestock.

Hundreds of Tibetan monks, nuns, and laypeople gathered in a rare vigil outside a prison on Wednesday (January 15) to protest the detention of a respected and popular Tibetan lama, Khenpo (Abbot) Karma Tsewang, who was imprisoned in December and may face criminal charges.

The silent vigil this week, held outside the high walls topped with barbed wire of Nangchen (Chinese: Nangqian) prison, followed an earlier peaceful demonstration also involving hundreds of monks, who held home-made banners calling for his release. Sixteen of the monks were detained; their whereabouts and welfare is not known.

Karma Tsewang (known as Khenpo Kartse), who is known for his environmental activism, disaster relief work, and commitment to the preservation of Tibetan language, wrote a letter from prison on December 27 appealing to his supporters that no one should suffer for his sake.

In the early evening of Friday, November 9, Tibetan students at the Qinghai Nationalities University held a candle-light vigil and said mantras (pictured) for Tibetans who had self-immolated across Tibet. The students’ peaceful gathering, which took place for about an hour, shows the impact of Tibetan self-immolations is spreading across segments of Tibetan society and […]

Images and footage that emerged almost immediately from Tibet shows thousands of Tibetans in Rebkong (Chinese: Tongren), Malho (Chinese: Huangnan) Tibetan Auonomous Prefecture, Qinghai (Tibetan area of Amdo) gathering to mark the passing of Sonam Dargye, a Tibetan farmer who died after self-immolating near the center of Rongpo town on Saturday (March 17) (VOA, Thousands […]

UPDATE MARCH 5, 2012: It has been confirmed that 18-year old Nangdrol, who set himself on fire on February 19 in Dzamthang county, Ngaba, was a layperson and not a monk as previously reported, according to Tibetan sources. According to Tibetans in the area who are in contact with Tibetans in exile, Nangdrol cared passionately […]

Where: Embassy of the People’s Republic of China, 3505 International Place, NW, Washington, DC 20008 (nearest Metro location: Van Ness UDC) Date and Time: Wednesday, February 08, 2012, 10:00 am to 3:00 pm The International Campaign for Tibet, an international NGO working for human rights and democratic freedoms in Tibet, is standing with the Tibetan […]

Twelve Tibetans remain in detention after being rounded up by police in Kathmandu, Nepal on Tuesday, June 21, following a candlelight vigil intended to show solidarity with Tibetan demonstrators in Tibet. The Tibetan community in Kathmandu had organized a week of prayers for the long life of the Dalai Lama, who turns 76 on July […]

More than a hundred monks who held a peaceful candlelit vigil on the first day of Tibetan New Year (February 25) have been taken from their monastery, Lutsang, in Mangra county (Chinese: Guinan) in Qinghai (the Tibetan area of Amdo), for ‘study’ at an unknown location. According to a Tibetan source in exile with connections […]

Peace Rally and Vigil for Tibet Tuesday April 8, 6:00 to 8:00 pm (Pacific), United Nations Plaza, San Francisco Nobel Peace Laureate Archbishop Desmond Tutu and actor and activist Richard Gere will join thousands of Tibetan-Americans and Tibet supporters for a peace rally and candle-lit vigil for Tibet in United Nations Plaza in San Francisco […]

The Tibetan community and Tibet supporters in the Washington, DC area are having daily vigils in front of the Embassy of China in Washington, DC, located at 2300 Connecticut Ave NW – (202) 332-8851, from 3:00 to 5:00 pm. The vigils, organized by the Capital Area Tibetan Association, is to express solidarity with the Tibetans […]